Support for Gunther's Final Resting Place

Co-organized

Kelli & Lance Zielinski and Lance Zielinski are organizing this fundraiser.

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On February 1st, 2025, at around 9:40pm PST, Gunther Zielinski lost his life to Parkinsonism and dementia brought on by exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam between 1962 and 1968.

The VA looked the other way for decades on claims of Agent Orange exposure despite solid proof in the form of a brain scan that he was medically affected. Had they actually honored his sacrifice to his country, my father would be 100% service connected, my mother would have survivor's benefits, and we would not be experiencing this challenge today.

Now we have learned that the VA may provide the same level of "quality care" to his end-of-life expenses.

We visited the funeral home and discovered that the overall costs will be somewhere between $12,000 - $15,000 USD, as my father's final wishes were to be buried in a casket in a cemetery.

We've discovered that the burial allowance for a service-connected veteran death is $2000 USD. If the VA contends that they will NOT consider his death as service-connected, that allowance goes down to $978 USD if buried in a VA cemetery. And that is a reimbursement, which I trust about as much as I trust how well they took care of him in his life.

There was no funding set aside for death and burial, nor is it possible for his family to cover this cost independently. My mother, Lola, is struggling with her own health issues, and I lost my job in January 2024 during the big tech layoffs and don't have the liquid assets to cover this out of pocket.

Anyone who knows me or my family knows how difficult it is to ask for help like this. This is me, Lance, conceding to his pride and asking for the help of friends and family to bury his father.

My hope is to be able to do the following for my father in the Spring of 2025, hence the March 1st suggested date:

Cover funeral service and transportation for his physical remains
Provision a proper casket for a burial
Have a graveside service at Tahoma National Cemetery
Host a memorial after the graveside service near the cemetery

Any contributions, no matter how small, would be accepted with humility and gratitude. I'm not used to asking for help like this, but I hope some will be willing to do what they can. Gunther touched so many lives with his humor and jokes. He built the family home in Olympia with his own hands. He loved UFOs, horses, cats, cheeseburgers, and Dr Pepper (he sometimes sang his own song about Dr Pepper). We already miss him every day.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

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